Forbidden Places Guestbook

I was born in Puerto Rico but I grew up in Gary in the 1950's and 1960's. I have the fondest memories of my living there. I attended Holy Trinity School and then Froebel School and lived on 11th and Jackson. Everyone was kind and alwasys spoke to each other. My mother worked in Chicago so the commute took it's toll on her and we moved to Chicago so that she could be closer to her job. I remember riding the South Shore Train and my Godfather would pick me up from the train station on Broadway. All my friends are now in living in different locations, but those of us who stay in touch reminisce about the good times we had while growing up there. It is sad to see the pictures of all the buildings especially the ones of Methodist Church. It was a beautiful church in it's day. I did enjoy seeing the video on Youtube because that was a video of a city that was alive. Thank you so much for the memories!

In 1990 or so, there was an old, ornate theater along Sheridan Road in Chicago that was going to be demolished and I went in and photographed the insides, a construction worker let me in. It is almost indescribable how beautiful it was in its decay. Your photos somehow capture the grandure of these old buildings in a way that is so bitter sweet. Thank you for your work and your love of these old buildings. Just beautiful.

I GREW UP BY SOME OF YOU... 44TH AND GEORGIA... RILEY, BAILLY AND LEW WALLACE 1973... DAD TAUGHT IN THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM... REMEMBER TIGER THE UMP ON THE LITTLE LEAGUE FIELDS? GREAT MEMORIES... THEY WILL NEVER DIE... LIKE GARY DID!

Nice shots i liked all
I suggest to go near Milan to the old "innocenti" car factory, u can find an interesting old factory.
Thank you for your nice amazing work.

Greetings from the wasteland of Oregon. We have been infiltrating abandoned sites here for almost 10 years now. Recently, we've utilized many of these locations - with owner permission, to film our pilot web series, "Lady Wasteland". It's a post-apocalyptic story about a woman searching for the six killers who murdered her best friend. Currently, we're prepping to relaunch the series with 10 new episodes. Please feel free to check out the site and let us know what you think.

www.ladywasteland.com

Also, if you come across any abandoned locations here in Oregon... please let us know.

Thanks,

Wasteland Films LLC

Good day, I represent the Festival of Youth Culture "Necrourbanism", which will be held in St. Petersburg (Russia) this summer.
The festival will be dedicated the Urban Exploration, and it will take place in unrestored shops former knitting factory "Red Flag", becouse industrial building are suitable event atmosphere, and the factory architectural complex is a unique masterpiece avant-garde architecture of the 20th century.

Festival support the Goethe-Institute and
The State Museum of Urban Sculpture (St. Petersburg)

We would like to present at this festival of photographers from this site.
For example, www.forbidden-places.net
Can somebody help me contact them? Please, answer to ru.carpediem@gmail.com

Best regards, Margo.

Wonderful!
So .... inspiring!

hi people im in charge of knocking down hellingly asylum and if people would like to look around i can show you rather than you sneak in after dark as some of the floors are rotten and missing with 5 meter drops which u cant see and can kill just email me at p3terjohn@hotmail.com and we will sort some think out

im doing a world tour of things i should do before i die. id appreciate some advice and support from any one willing to lend any.

my email is enpire@live.com

if any one copuld reccomend the most amazing places taht have to be seen and have plots orr scematics that would be most impressive.. also anyone know anything about the tokyo undergound>??

Personaly tried to get in the other day, but was collared by security. If anyone can tell me the easiest way to get in without being seen let me know. Do not want to come face to face with the dogs there.

Excellent, interesting and exceptional photographs it is worthwhile spending places here more of time.. Willingly I will peek and I will recommend this side at myself.

Love your photos, check us out if you get a chance www.slackninja.com

I love seeing that at some points in history people actually gave a crap how architecture looked. It pains me to see some of these places fade into oblivion. Why is it that buildings today can't be functional AND pleasing to the eye? Thank you for documenting some epic locations.

Hi, for a week now, since I've found this site, I'm totally fascinated about your photos and the whole project. This is amazing, I love the beauty of these wonderful places. It's like diving into another time... As I was a child, I wanted to go into the ruin of an old mill in Germany near my home town, it's called Hildebrandsche Muehle in Weinheim. Here you can take a look at it, and this is what I can find for information. A crazy story: there is a lot of trouble in town because of the idea to establish a bo*rd*ell*o in a side building of it... Could this mill be of interest to you?
Ah, and I want to say Thank You for sharing all your wonderful art photography with us!!

I was fascinated by Gary Indiana. Can it be creepier than Detroit? Keep up the great photography.
Cheers

Excellent and fascinating website.
Best compliments for sharing with the visitors the splendid result of your huge work.
Renato Gaudio

Awesome website with excellent photos. Keep going on!

Really beautiful, artistic site. So well done!

I have a site for upstate NY in the US at oabonny.com covering old abandoned buildings in the area.

This site is very fantastic. I love decayed locations.The book is certainly great and very interesting.I would be happy to just watch it all myself, but I haven´t enough time.

You know this web site is soooo freekin cool! I love abandoned things, they're amasing!!! But, there is not one thing for canada!!! Why not? I know of atleast, like.... 5 abandoned places off by heart. But, anyways, yeah. cool site, more canada needed.

hi and hello everyone,

this is a very nice website ...congaratulations. so many "forbidden places" around the world...great.
if you like to see more about - Beelitz Heilstaetten/Germany and Heilstaetten Grabowsee - pls visit my homepage.

thx to all visitors

bw
ralf

I from Moscow. Your Moscow colleague. I very much liked your site. We, the Moscow underground researchers, have too a resource http://diggers.su and the basic forum http://diggers.su/forum

Hello everyone.....I was looking at the pictures today and reading your comments. It took me on a walk down memory lane. My heart is sick seeing the beautiful Palace Theater. Wow, it was so beautiful and I took would take the bus to the theater or out to Miller Beach when I was 10.
I am from Brunswick like some of you. And I lived on 11th and Porter. I remember playing hide and seek and kick the can. And yes being free to run and play even in the evening. The world is no longer a safe place for children.
Very fond memories of Gary, Ivanhoe Elementary and Edison High School
God Bless, Kathy

Oh my god is all I can say! I wish so much to have the chance to be able to explore any part of this.

I am from Chicago, USA and will be in Paris from now until September 7th.

Is there any way you could put me in contact with someone to go down with or tell me some tips if its possible to do it myself? (And safe of course) I know people have trashed some areas and some people get upset with this. I understand. I would go down on a trash clean up expedition if this would be good? Let me know? I am excited by the fact of these tunnels existance!

Thank you so much.

Mark

mobile in paris: 063 16 44 003

Very interesting site, great pics, love the prison ones!

I really liked it. But not bad, it would be to add a few important sections.

Great site!
If you like abandoned mine, I suggest you to look at these amazing place: abandoned mine video and pictures.
Bye bye

Hi there captain,I hope you're well today.Where's the Boortmeerbeek Maltery in Antwerp?Is it still there or has it been demolished?All I know at this moment in time is there's a small railway station within 200m of the site.Once again we find ourselves raising a glass to all the dereliction in Belgium that feeds our passion...........................................JUST NICE!!!!Go steady fellow urbexing dudes.........................................OVER AND OUT!!!!

nice site mate !!!

you now la crypte @ Belgium (Brussel)
if you wanne go thear i have the location for you .

i khan give you tis information when you mail me

grtz btw you have my mail ha ! and sorry for my english its so bat !

nice site my friend

love all the effort youve gone to

the photography is amazing

the adventures even better

keep it goin !

i was born in gary @ a methodist hospital 7 28 1957
my great grandma whalen lived there addie bell whalen
when i was little i always remember hearing a train go by
i was little but it must have been nice, because i had the greatest great grandma in the whole
world i know michael jackson was born i gary too i wonder if @ same hospital
aug 29 1958

a nice site - do not forget to do chateaux noisy... really worth a visit - and you should hurry..

will follow some of your explorations in Belgium.

thanks for the nice experience - took me about an hour this site. if you are sharing locations - i would be interested.

kind regards

jurgen van den bossche

Nice site but when you list all the places you have United Kingdom and then an England flag above it, there are three other countries in the UK: Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

I am a photograph collector in San Francisco with an 8 3/4" x 6 3/4" image of firemen, "State Hospital" ladder wagon, hose reels, a ladder going to the top floor, and water being poured into a fourth-floor window. Tha architecture matches the photo at the top of your website.

Does anyone have any pre-1900 photos of San Francisco to trade? I also like Daguerreotype photos.

Peter

(415) 398-7363

Almost beautiful pictures and stories - I really enjoyed exploring your side! I will come back and look for new adventures
Thank you for this..i will keep it in mind..

Regards from a German Urban Explorer
Anna

I absolutely adore this site, and I find the topic deeply fascinating. If you ever get the chance, make a point to visit Salton Sea in Southern California- it's a true Piece de resistance!

I LOVE your website...I will definitely be a frequent visitor. I am completely fascinated by these sorts of images. I am amazed at some of the photos you were able to get! Great job and thanks!

I lived in Gary and left for the military as soon as I could. I have tons of family in Gary and the only reason I go back is to visit family. I never knew anything good of Gary except family, food, and Dana M. Davis. So much pain so many horrible memories. Oneday I would love to see Gary become a fraction of what it once was. But with so many murders and desertions whose going to change it?

I used to patrol BlackOak and Gary in early 80 s.The crime was bad and so were the politicians.I remember one night two Gary cops were responding to a call and there car had no floorboard.Thanks Richard Hatcher.
Professor Lanes biik is a goldmine

I commend you on this extraordinary site. Your photo composition hints at professional avocation. If your photo skills are self taught they are indeed praisworthy!. As a "retired" UrbEx I have thouroughly enjoyed visiting and will return often. Thank you.

Notre premier amour reste dans nos coeurs pour toujours. Nous pouvons rêver de nouveau en regardant de jeunes amants. Vivant et l'amour depuis longtemps, mon ami.

This stuff is so amazingg!!!! I have always been interested in old abandoned buildings! I have always wanted to go to one that still has old stuff inside. How do you go to these places? Like isnt there bums nd scarry people in some of the buildings??

This is a beautiful video. Thanks for taking it. I loved watching it. If you want a thinker who supports your approach you might try Bernard Stiegler en.wikipedia.org at Centre Pompideu. He is best known for his book Technics and Time I here en.wikipedia.org. Read about it at wikipedia, or better still watch the video The ister....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ister_(film).

I was directed to the section on the Canfranc railway station by a link posted on Trainorders.com, a California-based website used by railway enthusiasts and working railroaders. I've spent about an hour roaming through various "ghost" locations, such as the Locomotive Graveyard in Belgium and the old power plant in Baltimore. It's almost like an adventure movie (Harry Potter exploring Hogwarts comes to mind), and the poster who had a fire door close behind him--that gave me a chill, until I realized that he must have found a way out or he would not be here to post his story. I'm a bit old to do very much exploring, but it's intriguing to read the adventures of others. Some of the folks who post on Trainorders have visited closed facilities, such as the Southern Pacific station in Oakland, CA. I did some exploration there in 1981 when it was still active: up until 1941 there was an elevated station for electric suburban trains above the platform for long-distance trains. The stairway was closed off by a sheet of plywood, which I carefully moved aside. I went upstairs and photographed the long-deserted platforms, then got back downstairs without being spotted. What made them special what that many of the cars that used to stop here were sent to Southern California to work on the Pacific Electric Ry. during World War II, and two of them are preserved in running condition at Orange Empire Ry. Museum in Perris, CA, where I've been a member for many years.
I noted that there are a lot of locations in Belgium. Is that the "headquarters" for Forbidden Places?

hello how are you. good work on the site loving all the photos, i just have a quick question about eli's tomb!
i have been through a few of adelaides underground tunnel but have yet failed to stumble across the location of eli'd tomb. i was just wondering if you could email the location or just the area of that tunnel so i can go down there to do some photography. if you could get back to me about it i would muchly appriciate it.
thank you keep up the good work

Have any urban explorers been thru the miles of underground tunnels? Grew up near there. Friends dad worked there. Not an urban legend!

great webside

and beautiful photos

I have always been interested in deserted places. The feelings of sadness are overbearing at times. I think about the last time an object was used. ie a coat hanging on a hook. Who hung it there for the last time? What were the thoughts of the people involved? There is a hauntingly beautiful aura in deserted places. Why was this place given up on?
I only wish someone had taken pics of my boarding school before it was torn down. I have seen several old pics & one on photoshop, but no infiltrations of the building that is long gone now. I think they should have to wait until every living person that had contact with a place has passed on before they destroy a building. It is a sin to destroy a person's memories. My school was in Ft. Thomas, Ky. Our Lady of the Highlands Academy for girls.

Thankyou for your pics.

Great website!

I love this website. Thanks to all of you who bravely explored these places so homebodies like me could see them! It's bittersweet though and heartbreaking to know many of these amazing places will soon be no more. I particularly enjoy the castle pictures.

My interest in Hellingly Hospital came through searching family history. My Grandmother from Seaford had a brother who in 1908 was listed as an imbecile and living there. Over the years that thought bothered me. How did people of different mental capacities endure, frightened, bewildered, confused and lonely.
I read some of the comments with interest. In particular those who believe they have experience entities. With so many tormented souls that past from this life while residing there it is to be expected.
Thank goodness that mental health and the understanding and care of those poor souls suffering from mental decease has improved.

I loved the old insane asylum/hospital pictures..so much history, and leaves so much to the imagination. We can only wonder what it was like back then. I have a friend who was a psych nurse in the early 60's when so much experimenting was done. She can remember all the different patients,the long dark halls with the marble floors, the seclusions rooms, and has many strories to tell. These buildings are a part of all those tales..

Thank you ..would love to see more..

VJ

Great site with supurb photos.
I'l be back again
good luck
uXplorer ultd.

merci pour les belles photo's
moi,j'ai fait ici mon service militaire en 1981
j'ai encore beaucoup des photo's de cette caserne!

salutations, jo

Hey there! I am new to the idea of Urbex, but it seems like the need has been in my gut for some time Anyway great website! Lots of good ideas and locations I found something here in Poland, may be worth looking over in detail. For now I have this...
www.youtube.com

Cheers and heads up!

Thak you for the news

at the moment we are looking for interesting spaces for a dance - sound - space performance.
the location is an very important aspect of our symbiotic work.
the theme of german mythology goes perfectly with abandoned industriel spaces.
your pictures and locations are a good source. if anybody know where it is easy to enact such performances,
it would be great to hear. check our website and get in contact with us.

www.e-blo-kend.blogspot.com

It was beautiful! Thanks for the idea guys

So once in a while I just have to check your site/work... !!
It amazes me everytime again.

the australian drains are phenomenal. im actually going on a trip there soonish. if anyone seeing this can give me info, or wants to meet up and see this let me know.
xshhhhx@gmail.com

Just wanted to say thanks for a fantastic presentation last night. I love simple of photography. My greatest passion is light and tone. I was inspired when you explained that you use mostly natural light. I adore all of your pictures and find them very emotive. It must be an honour to be able to photograph something which now no longer exists. I find the beauty of decay illustrated by your photographs absolutely stunning . I would adore the opportunity to be an urban explorer, but alas am a little too old and a mother of two kids!

Thanks again for a wonderful talk and some inspirational photography. LS

You have a terrific site here, and SO many awesome shots!

G'day to everyone out there, i was wondering if there is any Sydney siders out there wholm are still completely active as far as exploration goes? Iam an amuter photographer who would like to have a go at photographig many of these amazing places. (Esp Central stations hidden platform!)
Cheers. RG

contact: got_alfa@hotmail.com

Just wanted to say that your site is beautiful. I'm currently working on a year-long writing project about urban exploration (a focus on subterranean spaces). I'm currently in Berlin. Enough dark crawl-spaces and bunkers and other hidden pockets to keep me happy for years! Soon, though, I go to Paris and would love to touch base with you about people I should seek out there. Check out my website: web.mac.com

Bests,

W

A beautifull link for people interested in urban exploration : www.abandoned.ru
Mainly moscow region, but russia must be full with this things.

Great Site

I Love it.

Visit my Page pls.

Great and large site! Great photography and really interesting locations. The prison serie is very impressive!

This great idea has been tried out for the first time by "Papalubowski", a group of four young Belgians (1991/1993) . Thousands of photos were made in very insolite locations in Belgium and in France. It would be nice to find them back.

If i have explored and taken pictures at a location, what is the best way to go about getting them on this website? I love that this is here and definitely enjoy looking through all these old buildings and exploring these places. I want to know how i can help add to this site with what exploring I have done and will be doing.

Thank You for such a great web site ! I look at the photo's (photo's don't lie) and close my eyes and can see the way it once was, while growing up there, and then open my eyes and realize how destructive people can be, and for what ?
To look at the buildings that once were so beautiful and mighty, reduced to what the pictures show they are now, just totally shocking. Gary Indiana looks like a city that Hitler's storm troopers went through in Europe, but this has happened in many cities in the USA...How could this be ? People that do this are animals, and the pictures don't lie.

hey,

this is a really fantastic site, its amazing, especially the prison photos.

well done guys, and thanks for sharing.

xx

enjoyed the images you have created and have for us to see from the other side of the world

Come by our site sometime and see forgotten places of missouri in 360

Bravo pour vos photos en des lieux aussi difficiles. J'aime les endroits intimistes.
J'ai visité en compagnies de professionnels des tronçons d'egouts à Paris.
C'est dangeureux, sale mais tres interessant.
Faites nous partager encore vos photos de lieux insolites.
cordialement J-M

i really appreciate you guys can share this wonderful UE pisc
i am from china.(www.chinauer.com)this ,is a website china's biggest UE online website.
if you woul dlike to know more UE about china,i can show you guys
also we have to learn from you guys a lot
i sincerly hope you guys could come to china one some
.china has a lots of UE site .

Im probably the first asian to leave a trace here, just to say "Nice UE work done here!"
Great photos you guys have too
I am just browsing through various foreign sites to learn more for my own group - Singapore Urban Explorers
(we are going to move to a new website in future)

Thanks for an amazing website, really enjoyed it.

Thank you very much for this impressive picture collection. Beautiful images and an very interesting site.
beauty of decay

Thank you guys for your work you have done! it's really great! there is certain beauty in abandoned places... thank you once again and wish the best to you and your site

Great photos,Iworked there in early 1990s and was sad to hear of its demise. I suspect however many were ecstatic.

Verry good web! great foto!
I love urban exploration!

good luck!

today i want to make a comment. i love mystery places. i want to go this places if i have time. i love this site. it is very very interessting.
greatings nettie

I found this site after driving past Bijou and being absolutely gobsmacked by it...I came home and then ended up here via Google. What a truly great site, if there was nothing else on the 'net but this site it would be would be OK!! I love what you are doing and now have more places in the region to go and check out. Many Many thanks for all your efforts

Hi,

Just wondered if you'd ever thought about putting a book together about all these great places you've been to. The photographs are brilliant and the history is so interesting. I for one would definitely snap a copy up and I'm sure others would too.

Best wishes.

Nicola

Awesome website. The pictures are so beautiful - in an eerie way, which makes them all the more impressive. Each peeled off wall or abandoned piece of junk or ramshackle hallway tells a story of its own.

Have you ever thought of going there?

www.seedetroit.com

Hello,

I'm an avid spelunker. Next week I'm heading over to Europe to explore Venice (Italy), Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia. I was hoping to get in touch with someone that might have access to, or information on, any underground areas in Venice, such as ancient tunnels, concealed waterways, crypts, etc. Thanks!

Cheers,

Peter

Your photos are so beautiful. They find a soul in a building's death.

Hi,
I'm quite happy to find again the site. it's been literally two years that i haven't posed a foot here.
It's really inspiring and a pleasure to the eyes

I'm going to dublin and i wanted to know if anyone could suggest some places to visit
Keep up all this good job !

What about releasing a photo book? Your pics own the pure magic of intense decay, but watching them on a web site is not really the first choice, my friends ! You´ve just entered my own photographer´s heaven to the right of Simon Marsden, very good job!

Im trying to write a horror-story and a girlfriend showed your page to me. from the photos I got many impressions and also inpiration for the story, so thanks allot

Your pictures are historical very interesting ; keep up the good work.

I thank you very much for this impressive collection of fascinating and brilliant pictures and
that you share them with the world for free...Please keep on your great work.

Best regards

very Goooood Site

see You www.ortederangst.de From germany

Very impressive and beautiful pictures! Keep going - can't wait to see more of this stuff.

Best regards,

Sven

Very good pictures and a great idea to show us them!

Greetings from Germany Kerstin

Absolutly Fantastic Places

welcome to Amerika

A good Site! My English isn´t good!

Very instristing!

Chris!

Hallo und herzlichen Glückwunsch zu Deiner beeindruckenden Page.
Deine Fotos sind absolut fazinierend, aber auch schockierend zugleich.
Ich glaube, dass das der Stil ist, den viele Menschen sehen wollen.
Ich wünsche Dir noch viel Erfolg auf Deiner Suche nach dem Unerforschten.

From now I will keep an eye constantly on your homepage. I'm very impressed of your art.

Regards

www.marcus-rodenbusch.de

Hi There,

I found your page by accident... incredible!

I explored an old Cannery on an island near Victoria, BC, Canada a few years ago and have some very nice pictures. I would be interested to contribute to your site!

Let me know.

Thanks,

Todd

I have been to 1 abandoned mental hospital, but i know for sure there are others. I live in VICTORIA. doesn anyone here know of any good mental hospitals/hospitals/asylums in VICTORIA AUSTRALIA?

Yes, this architectural thing is a shame! A pox on city leaders who won't do anything about it!
I also am curious as to how and why Seth died at such a young age.